Photographer's Note

After the previous "blue hour" photo from Hamburg, now comes a "brown hour" photo. Of course there is nothing called "brown hour", but the reflections of the city lights in the misty sky, combined with a warm color temperature, gives this ochre color palette. I did not try to correct the lens distortion coming with the 10 mm extreme wide angle, as you lose most of the buildings at both sides after correction.

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In 1922, Hamburgian businessman Henry Brarens Sloman, who had made a fortune with saltpeter in Chile, bought a 5,000 square meters large building site in Hamburg's center. There, he was to erect a very special kind of office building: the "Chilehaus" (Chile House), designed in the shape of a passenger ship.

Before, Sloman had arranged an architectural design contest, which had been won by the hamburgian architect Fritz Höger, already quite renown for his office building designs.

The "Chilehaus", built with 4.8 million bricks, was a symbol of the economical recovery after the First World War and became Hamburg's second most distinctive city landmark, right after the "Michel" church. The "Chilehaus" has since drawn worldwide attention and has kept its reputation as architectural work of art up to the present day.

Its brick facade glitters in a different light at each weather shift, and each change of an observer's viewpoint also alters the impression of its stone workings and ornaments. At dark, the building is being illuminated and then shines in majestic beauty.

Well that's a new one - brown hour! Ha ha! Must be the smog! Great POV on this building it make sit look like a reflection of the same building but I can see it is not. Has a kind of cinematographic colouring to it. Like it - creative.

The perspective here creates almost an obelisk out of the corner of the central building here, Deniz. I like the term 'brown hour' you've created; I've seen this light before and this is a perfect representation of it. A really nice study in light and angles here.

I love your "brown hour"! The warm colors is wonderful and I liketo much the lights of the city and the pois of view with the building in the center of the photo. This building have a nice architecture style and I like your note about it.

Originality, I love it! You may have created a new German term "Braune hauer" :) O.K., so that doesn't exactly translate properly or make any sense, but it still sounds out reasonably close to your title!? This is a first of its kind, at least for me, so I'm really drawn in to the color scheme here, this looks great....kind of a chocolatey caramel combo. Never would have though brown could make for such an appealing image, but this works, and works well! Smart use of the wide angle to create some symmetry and dramatic lines. Very nicely done with precision. Have a great day.

Hi Deniz, We have blue hour, golden hour and Barbie hour, so why not brown? It really is! superb composition of this night shot. I like the symmetry, fantastic light, excellent sharpness. very attractive presentation.

You chose a very nice angle with a lovely result.
What a nice brown colour during the night I can not see or you used a tripod!
We get a lot depth and perspective.
Sharpness and clarity be superb.
Excellent composition, nice presentation, TFS.

Hi Deniz
a stunning shot this. The light and super wide angle make it almost overwhelming but in a fascinating and amazing way. The light and effect here match the perfection of your execution and presentation. Excellent!

Hi Deniz,
I have lived near Hamburg for a couple of years so I have visited this place many times yet I have never managed to produce a satisfactory result. I like very much your picture. The "brown" hour works very attractive but most of all you wide composition well emphasizes the unique architecture of the Chile House.
Very well done,
M

a ship at night, but this time on the road... A superb capture... Love the lights and colours in it. The sky is also provide a nice colour tone... May by due to some moisture in it. A razor sharp, well composed, nicely exposed image... I have no more adjective for it. GREAT. Tfs.
subhendu

Hi Deniz
hmmm...maybe your best posted photo???
Certainly its one of my favorites.

and i totally agree with you that you chose NOT to correct the lens distortion, you would have lost so much of the buildings on the sides...and the lens distortion is what makes the photo unique in the first place!!

WICKED photo.
seeing the underlighting in the middle building at the top is amazing, that really makes it a 10/10.
and that sharp needle point nose is fantastic too.

oooh la la, as those French say. This Brown Hour is something else. It could be on a billboard, with such dramatic perspectives, distortions and exquisite light management. The effect of the wide angle wins it for me, making this almost like a dream sequence and something, as I said before, very artistic and original. Great architectural details too.

I'm curious to know something: is this taken with a White Balance As Shot? I have a photo of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with similar brown tones (which I love, as I do here), but got some really interesting results, a deep indigo, by switching the WB in Photoshop Camera Raw. Would you mind if I played round with it in a WS?

Hi Deniz,
indeed,something different from "blue hour",but equally attractive to look at(I have also some picture kept in such,brown tone.It depends also on the white balance settings I think).
In this case it works really well with the photographed subject.The city at night seen through your wide-angle lens looks amazing and has its own,unique charm and mood.